Dynamically building a visualization filter

• US 10,156,961 B1
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Marchant, Kendra, Joyce, Scott E., Wong, Natalie Lee Chin, Tynan, Paul D., Porter, Rhon L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blaufeld, Justin R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NICHOLS, JENNIFER ELIZABETH-JO
• Application Number:
  US14/035,768
• Time in Patent Office: 1,911 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2425 Iterative querying; Query formulation based on the results of a preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24534 Query rewriting; Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24535 of sub-queries or views
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24568 Data stream processing; Continuous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/33 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3323 using document space presentation or visualization, e.g. category, hierarchy or range presentation and selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3325 Reformulation based on results of preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 45/00 ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related data visualisation, e.g. displaying of maps or networks
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 20/80 Data visualisation

Abstract

Techniques for presenting a dynamic graphical user interface (GUI) for selecting multiple non-conflicting filters to be used to filter performance data for display in a visualization are provided.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computing device, of dynamically constructing and displaying a filtered performance visualization for a distributed data storage system using a graphical user interface (GUI) on the computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, from a remote data server, a set of data points representing performance of the distributed data storage system, the set of data points including data points that represent performance of each data storage array of a set of data storage arrays of the distributed data storage system at a sequence of time periods, the performance of any given data storage array at a given time period being a measure of Input/Output (I/O) operations per second performed by that data storage array during that time period;

displaying, using the GUI, an unfiltered graph of the set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating an aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays; and

displaying a graph of the calculated aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

receiving a list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the filterable categories representing respective categories of elements for which the distributed data storage system records regarding performance of the distributed data storage system;

displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI;

subsequent to displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, receiving a category selection of a particular filterable category of the received list of filterable categories from a user via the GUI;

sending the category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the category selection to the remote data server, receiving a set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the set respectively representing specific instances of a feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the selected particular filterable category;

displaying the set of filterable elements of the selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, an element selection of a particular filterable element of the set of filterable elements;

receiving another list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the other list of filterable categories being different than the list of filterable categories by having the selected particular filterable category removed, the other list of filterable categories having been created by the remote data server in response to the element selection;

displaying the other list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, wherein displaying the other list includes displaying the other list of filterable elements while refraining from displaying the selected particular filterable category as part of the other list;

after displaying the other list of filterable categories, receiving another category selection of another particular filterable category of the other list of filterable categories from the user via the GUI;

sending the other category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the other category selection to the remote data server, receiving another set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the other set respectively representing specific instances of another feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the other selected particular filterable category;

displaying the other set of filterable elements of the other selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the other set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, another element selection of another particular filterable element of the other set of filterable elements;

filtering performance data of the distributed data storage system by removing data points from the set of data points that do not represent both the selected particular filterable element and the other selected particular filterable element, yielding a filtered set of data points; and

displaying, using the GUI, a graph of the filtered set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating a filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays, disregarding the removed data points; and

displaying a graph of the calculated filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

wherein communicating with the remote data server is done using a representational state transfer (REST) architecture.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the other list of filterable categories from the remote data server includes receiving the list of filterable categories further having all filterable categories from the list which are containers of elements of a type defined by the selected particular filterable category removed.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the other list of filterable categories from the remote data server includes receiving the list of filterable categories further having an additional filterable category, the additional filterable category not being found within the list of filterable categories.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

sending the category selection to the remote data server includes sending the category selection to the remote data server over a network connection.

4. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the operations of:

receiving, from a remote data server, a set of data points representing performance of a distributed data storage system, the set of data points including data points that represent performance of each data storage array of a set of data storage arrays of the distributed data storage system at a sequence of time periods, the performance of any given data storage array at a given time period being a measure of Input/Output (I/O) operations per second performed by that data storage array during that time period;

displaying, using a graphical user interface (GUI), an unfiltered graph of the set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating an aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays; and

displaying a graph of the calculated aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

receiving a list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the filterable categories representing respective categories of elements for which the distributed data storage system records regarding performance of the distributed data storage system;

displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI;

subsequent to displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, receiving a category selection of a particular filterable category of the received list of filterable categories from a user via the GUI;

sending the category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the category selection to the remote data server, receiving a set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the set respectively representing specific instances of a feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the selected particular filterable category;

displaying the set of filterable elements of the selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, an element selection of a particular filterable element of the set of filterable elements;

receiving another list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the other list of filterable categories being different than the list of filterable categories by having the selected particular filterable category removed, the other list of filterable categories having been created by the remote data server in response to the element selection;

displaying the other list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, wherein displaying the other list includes displaying the other list of filterable elements while refraining from displaying the selected particular filterable category as part of the other list;

after displaying the other list of filterable categories, receiving another category selection of another particular filterable category of the other list of filterable categories from the user via the GUI;

sending the other category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the other category selection to the remote data server, receiving another set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the other set respectively representing specific instances of another feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the other selected particular filterable category;

displaying the other set of filterable elements of the other selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the other set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, another element selection of another particular filterable element of the other set of filterable elements;

filtering performance data of the distributed data storage system by removing data points from the set of data points that do not represent both the selected particular filterable element and the other selected particular filterable element, yielding a filtered set of data points; and

displaying, using the GUI, a graph of the filtered set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating a filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays, disregarding the removed data points; and

displaying a graph of the calculated filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

wherein communicating with the remote data server is done using a representational state transfer (REST) architecture.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein receiving the other list of filterable categories from the remote data server further includes receiving the list of filterable categories having all filterable categories from the list which are containers of elements of a type defined by the selected particular filterable category removed.

6. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein receiving the other list of filterable categories from the remote data server includes receiving the list of filterable categories having an additional filterable category, the additional filterable category not being found within the list of filterable categories.

7. An apparatus comprising:

memory;

a graphical user interface (GUI); and

a controller, the controller being configured to perform the following operations;

receiving, from a remote data server, a set of data points representing performance of a distributed data storage system, the set of data points including data points that represent performance of each data storage array of a set of data storage arrays of the distributed data storage system at a sequence of time periods, the performance of any given data storage array at a given time period being a measure of Input/Output (I/O) operations per second performed by that data storage array during that time period;

displaying, using the GUI, an unfiltered graph of the set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating an aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays; and

displaying a graph of the calculated aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

receiving a list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the filterable categories representing respective categories of elements for which the distributed data storage system records regarding performance of the distributed data storage system;

displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI;

subsequent to displaying the list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, receiving a category selection of a particular filterable category of the received list of filterable categories from a user via the GUI;

sending the category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the category selection to the remote data server, receiving a set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the set respectively representing specific instances of a feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the selected particular filterable category;

displaying the set of filterable elements of the selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, an element selection of a particular filterable element of the set of filterable elements;

receiving another list of filterable categories from the remote data server, the other list of filterable categories being different than the list of filterable categories by having the selected particular filterable category removed, the other list of filterable categories having been created by the remote data server in response to the element selection;

displaying the other list of filterable categories to the user via the GUI, wherein displaying the other list includes displaying the other list of filterable elements while refraining from displaying the selected particular filterable category as part of the other list;

after displaying the other list of filterable categories, receiving another category selection of another particular filterable category of the other list of filterable categories from the user via the GUI;

sending the other category selection to the remote data server;

in response to sending the other category selection to the remote data server, receiving another set of filterable elements from the remote data server, the filterable elements of the other set respectively representing specific instances of another feature of the distributed data storage system represented by the other selected particular filterable category;

displaying the other set of filterable elements of the other selected particular filterable category to the user via the GUI;

after displaying the other set of filterable elements, receiving, from the user, another element selection of another particular filterable element of the other set of filterable elements;

filtering performance data of the distributed data storage system by removing data points from the set of data points that do not represent both the selected particular filterable element and the other selected particular filterable element, yielding a filtered set of data points; and

displaying, using the GUI, a graph of the filtered set of data points in an aggregated manner plotted against time by;

for each time period, calculating a filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system by summing together all the measures of I/O operations per second of every data storage array of the set of data storage arrays, disregarding the removed data points; and

displaying a graph of the calculated filtered aggregated I/O operations per second measurement of the distributed data storage system against time;

wherein communicating with the remote data server is done using a representational state transfer (REST) architecture.